


Just Close Your Eyes

by DayStar



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 05:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4379804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayStar/pseuds/DayStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jasper and Monty share a bed in their tent a few days after Jasper got speared. He’s still scared and can’t sleep properly, so Monty decides to comfort him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Close Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> ** As a note, I accidentally cut off an end portion of this fic, and I've just added the real ending now.

The ache was deep and constant, like nothing he’d ever known before. Rationally, Jasper knew that Clarke couldn’t instantly heal him, not with the supplies they had, but he fingered the bandages across his chest with something close to peevishness. Around his wound the skin was hot, bothered and itchy, and if it kept up he was going to tear the bandages –

_What was that?_

His heart rate surged and he froze, pressing back into the makeshift cot as if he hoped to sink into it. Staring up at the tent’s roof, Jasper counted his hitched breaths like Monty had suggested, ears straining for a sound that wouldn’t come. He’d imagined it. Just like he’d imagined it several other times that night, twice when he’d been on the verge of sleep. One hand reached out, hovered over the form next to him and then fell back to his side.

Just because he couldn’t sleep didn’t mean that he deserved to wake Monty up. Hell, _because_ he couldn’t sleep, was too scared to, he didn’t deserve to wake Monty up. His friend had already suggested sleeping together, like he knew that Jasper had shuddered uncontrollably under his blankets that first night out of the med tent. Jasper wasn’t going to be more of a pain in the ass than he already was.   

The self-loathing thought went down a track well-worn over the last few days and the boy shifted restlessly, just a little. He didn’t think he was going to be able to sleep tonight. Yesterday he’d drifted off to the comforting sound of Monty remembering the time they’d hid under a mound of potatoes to avoid the guards who’d unexpectedly come through the greenhouse. Today, Monty had been out – being useful – and chopping down some trees while Jasper lie in bed – being useless – and pretended to rest. Nah, Monty needed his sleep.

His mouth was dry and a metallic taste told him he’d bit his lip, again. Jasper’s heart was still thumping too hard, like a futile declaration that it would never stop, and he knew if he closed his eyes he’d see a spear flying at him through the dark. So he didn’t close his eyes.

Maybe he made a sound. Maybe his movements had woken him up. Or maybe Monty had never actually gone to sleep. Either way, the dropship’s unofficial herbalist stirred next to him, and a moment later Monty spoke.

“You doing okay?”

Guilt, that he had woken his friend or was keeping him up, and Jasper made his voice very casual. Too casual, probably, considering he should have been sleepy. “Yeah, doing fine.”

Monty made a sound that he’d been making since the first time Jasper lied to his face, a lightly skeptical _tch_ at the back of his throat. It was hard lying to the other boy, and even harder to get away with it. Sometimes Jasper entertained – or scared – himself with the thought that Monty knew him better than he knew himself.

“Seriously dude,” he insisted stubbornly, “I’m fine.”

“Mmm. So, you feel like taking a walk outside?”

Unconsciously he pulled the blanket more firmly around himself, eyes going to the closed tent entrance, barely visible in the dark. Monty laughed, but it was a gentle hum, fond, a noise of a friend who was used to the other person’s antics and mulishness. Invisible in the dark, Jasper scowled and rubbed at his chest. His heart had calmed, though, and his breath was starting to even out. Monty had that effect on him.

There was the sound of rustling covers in the dim, and Monty shifted towards him, a searching hand eventually finding Jasper’s elbow. It was very warm against the goosebumps that were almost constantly there, now. “Hey,” the other boy said, abruptly serious. “It’s okay.”

“I know,” Jasper replied, more sharply than he meant to. “I know there’s no crazy tribal men out there waving around spears, and I know I shouldn’t be afraid. I know -”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Monty’s grip tightened, a spastic motion that he’d never fully gotten rid of since it had become a habit as a kid. It was a signal to Jasper, a sign that his friend was feeling something strongly. For some reason, his chest tightened. It was an unpleasant sensation.

Monty’s voice dropped to a hoarse whisper, like it had when they were kids and hanging out under the blankets during a sleepover. “Look, Jasper… you got stabbed in the chest, out of freaking nowhere. That’s some messed up shit.”

His laugh burst out like it didn’t belong to him, and Jasper was startled by how bitter it sounded. “Messed up. Yeah. That about sums it up. And now I can’t even go outside without thinking I’m gonna die!”

Another shift, bringing them closer together, and Monty shook him a bit. “And there’s nothing wrong with that! At least you’re going outside. Dude, if that had happened to me, I’d live under the bed and never come out.” Jasper tried to say something, but his friend rode over him. “All I’m saying is that it’s okay that you’re freaked out. No one’s blaming you. I just… y’know I’m gonna be there when you need it, right?”

He knew, _knew_ that if there had been any light to see by, Monty’s pale face would be flushing with embarrassment, but the darkness helped make everything seem comfortable. As it was, he finally turned onto his side, felt Monty’s breath brushing lightly against his face. He gently untangled his elbow from the slender boy’s grasp, pulled his blanket over the both of them. When he found his friend’s hand, he held it in a way that could have felt awkward but didn’t, their grip easy and relaxed together.

His heart was hammering again, but the fear was draining away, the dregs that still remained not even enough to make him stiffen when a branch creaked outside. He brought their intertwined fingers to his chest, moved a little closer to Monty, and forgot about the ache that was still radiating from his wound. Or maybe the ache had to do with something else entirely. Monty leaned forward and nuzzled into Jasper’s collarbone, his mouth a thin impression against skin.  

“It’s probably three in the morning,” Jasper muttered, “and we’re on freaking _Earth._ If that’s not enough to convince me you’ll be around, I took too many of our herbs when we were still on the ship.”

Monty’s lips curled, branding a smile into Jasper’s throat, and the last of the fear was gone. It would be back. Of that, he had no doubt. But for the moment – and for every other moment that Monty was around – he let himself remember Monty’s words, and closed his eyes.


End file.
